According to the Children’s Rights organization, there are more than 424,000 children in the United States alone that have to spend a day in foster care, and that number was a lot higher in 2019 when 672,000 children spent time in the foster system.
16-year-old Mara was one of them, who had already lived with numerous families and was then residing at a special shelter.
Due to her age, Mara had already given up on finding a warm, loving family and a place to call home.
Then one day, that all changed.
A woman named Autumn Moore had been interested in fostering a child for a while now. She had a friend at church who worked at a teen shelter and felt that it was her calling to foster teenagers.
“Months prior, I spoke with a friend at church who worked in a teen shelter. I mentioned I’d always wanted to foster and that my heart was with teenagers, BUT I was hesitant since I still had a younger child at home. At the time, I didn’t know how a teenager would influence my younger child. Side note: this seems to be a very common fear that people have in fostering teens, but I have discovered that teens are just teens. They’re not scary. They’re just older kids who still need unconditional love”, Autumn shared on Love What Matters.
After about eight long months, this friend texted her about a girl who needed a home, and the friend also thought that she’d be a perfect fit – it was Mara.
Autumn couldn’t keep the thought of taking care of Mara out of her head, but she still needed to convince her husband Josh.
“The only obstacle would be getting my husband on board. Josh and I had spoken about fostering many times throughout the years. He and I had even gone to speak with an agency a few years prior so we could learn more about the process. I felt it was my calling. He felt it was not his. I truly believed in my heart, though, that if God gave me this man to call my husband and also gave me this calling, tugging on my heart almost daily, that a way would eventually be made.”
Luckily, something happened which made Josh change his mind.
When the two saw a movie about fostering families, Autumn immediately burst out into tears. At that moment, Josh knew that they had to give it a shot.
A couple of days later, Autumn and Mara finally met for the first time.
Autumn was extremely interested in hearing about Mara’s story and what she’d been through in her sixteen years. In any case, this girl had already been through much more than most other teens would ever have to experience.
As they talked, it became immediately clear to Autumn that Mara fit right in.
“She started to explain how she entered the foster care system. The different homes she had been in. The different things she had experienced in her short 16 years of life. I listened as she picked at her cuticles while she spoke. She and I share that same nervous habit. I hurt for her. I wished she had never endured so many of the things she had in her young life…I remember stopping Mara in the middle of her story. I needed her to know we already wanted her as part of our family. She was already chosen. Our decision was not based on what she told me about herself that day. God had already shown me that this beautiful, brown-eyed girl was supposed to be with us. We had a good cry that day together, and I walked away knowing I was capable of loving this girl in the same way that I loved my other two girls.”
Three weeks after their first encounter, Mara moved in with the Moore family.
Autumn does recall that the first week was a little bit strange – but that was absolutely normal, of course! The girl fit in with the family perfectly and everybody got along, now it was just a point of getting to know each other better. As time went on, a sense of normalcy started to kick in, and Mara was considered an essential part of the family.
“As time progressed, feelings of normalcy set in. Mara got a job, was doing well in school, and making new friends. Eventually, she got her permit, then her license, and a car. The dinner table became ‘comedy central’ as she and our other teenage daughter, Kaylee, started cracking jokes just about every night. Our family loves to laugh and can be a bit sarcastic, so Mara fits right in. Side note: she is like the queen of fast comebacks—the girl makes me laugh with her incredible wit!”
For Autumn, Josh, and the rest of the family, having Mara around was the new normal.
“I realized that our new normal was exactly how it was meant to be all along. The thought of Mara not being there with us made me sad to even think about. I couldn’t picture our lives without her. And I didn’t want to.”
The woman often thinks about Mara’s story, and even regrets not getting in touch with the foster system before.
The teen spent too much time with other families where she wasn’t welcome, or at a shelter, and it totally destroyed her hopes of finding a warm family one day. After all, if she’d wait just a couple of years, she would already be an adult and wouldn’t need foster care anymore.
“When Mara was 12 years old, her parents permanently lost their parental rights and Mara could legally be adopted by another family. At 17 years old, the decision to be adopted was completely up to Mara. At this point in her life, she had envisioned aging out of the system. She had given up on the possibility of being adopted before even meeting us.”
After a while, Mara was officially adopted by the family, and the teen even decided to take on their last name ‘Moore’.
This admirable young woman will be 18 years old in February and is hard at work both at school and her job. She’s currently saving up so she can go to college in 2021.
Her main goal in life? To help children one day who have been in similar situations.
While Autumn and the rest of the Moore’s will definitely miss Mara when she moves out, they’re excited for what the future will bring for her. Mara will also still keep visiting once a week because she’d miss her newfound family way too much.
Be sure to check out Autumn’s full story on the Love What Matters page.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
